Fair Opportunity and Responsibility (Oxford University Press: 2021) By: David O. Brink Reviewed for Choice Magazine by Ronald F. White, PhD. Mount St. Joseph University
This is a complex philosophical and legal analysis of the concepts of “fair opportunity” and “responsibility.” It’s architecture builds upon a host of other moral/legal terms such as: normative competence, cognitive competence, culpability, duress, and provocation. Although we can be held responsible for both praiseworthy and blameworthy actions, this book focused on blameworthy, thus, it is intended to elucidate primarily actions undertaken in criminal law; especially crimes committed by juveniles, the mentally ill, addicts, and battered women. The author persuasively argues that we need to further develop the concept of “partial responsibility” and it’s legal implications. While this is an outstanding philosophical treatise, it’s comprehensibility could have been reinforced with the addition of a few case studies, court cases,